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On July 29, from 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. (ET), the FDA's Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (OPDP) will hold a webinar to discuss the enforcement actions it took between April 2013 and June 2013. During the webinar, participants will be able to pose questions to OPDP officials and hear more about the seven Untitled Letters that OPDP issued in this time period. Read more.

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The American Medical Association's designation of obesity as a disease will raise awareness, but it will not result in significant marketing changes, executives at drugmakers Vivus and Arena say. Vivus, which makes anti-obesity drug Qsymia, will incorporate the AMA's stance into promotional material but plan no immediate changes to direct-to-consumer advertising. Nonetheless, the designation will be a conversation starter for doctors and patients, and the sector is likely to follow the same path as antidepressants, Orexigen Chief Commercial Officer Mark Booth says.

Colorado, Connecticut, Kentucky and Oregon are among the states launching advertising campaigns for Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges, and campaigns in Hawaii and Vermont are expected soon. The campaigns include television, radio, newspaper, billboard and social media components and target people who have had difficulty obtaining insurance in the past. The campaigns are state-centric and do not emphasize the federal law or its mandate for all Americans to carry health insurance.

Drugmakers should not be allowed to substitute electronic labels for paper documents because doing so could compromise public health, the Government Accountability Office found. Although e-labeling could allow faster drug updates for patients, pharmacists and health care providers, 14 million people have inadequate access to the Internet and some websites where e-labels are posted are difficult to navigate, the GAO said. "Stakeholders we spoke with suggested that having drug labeling available in both paper and electronic form would best serve patients because it would allow them to take advantage of both options," said Marcia Crosse, director of health care at the GAO.

Opponents of the Affordable Care Act have spent about five times as much as supporters on television advertisements, a Kantar Media analysis found. Political advocacy group Crossroads GPS has spent at least $40 million on anti-ACA advertising, and Americans for Prosperity initiated a $700,000 TV campaign opposing the law. Meanwhile, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and Walgreen launched a campaign aimed at getting people enrolled in insurance plans via online marketplaces.